This invention relates generally to using a client browser to access a storage resource from a web page on the browser.
Conventionally, it may be desirable to access data from a storage resource such as a database in the course of using a given web page accessed for example over the Internet. A user may access a web page that may have a form which the user fills out. The form could be one of a variety of hypertext markup language (HTML) input objects such as a list box or text box as two examples.
In the course of using such a web page, it may be necessary to obtain additional information from the web server and particularly from its database. Conventionally, there is no way to access the database without reaccessing or refreshing the same or a different web page. This means that a complicated protocol must be undertaken each time the user wishes to obtain data from the database in the course of using a given web page.
Every time a client browser accesses the database on a hypertext transfer protocol (HTTP) server, a request is made for a new web page from the server. Because the new web page is obtained from the server, there is considerable overhead associated with bringing the page back from the server to the client browser. Also, the browser must parse the HTML data and then display that data. In addition, a time delay arises because the user must access a new web page just to obtain the data from the database associated with the server that provides the web page.
Moreover, the client browser must remember, when it gets the data back from the database, how to incorporate that data with the selections already made by the user. For example, the web page may have a plurality of list boxes and the user may make a selection in the first list box. In order to complete the second list box based on the user's previous selection, the browser may access the server's database to bring back the data in the form of a new web page. But the client browser must still know how to fill out the first list box to reflect the user's previous selection that precipitated the call to the database. Thus, the client browser must remember what item in the first list box was clicked on. Then, the client browser must rebuild the web page on each iteration, remembering the prior selections. This overhead results in unnecessary data transmission, unnecessary complexity and decreased speed.
Thus, there is a need for better ways to access a storage resource from a web page.